By Miles Patrick Yohnke
© 2025 All Rights Reserved.
In the late 1980s--Barry Rey Flynn refashioned my existence. He asked me what colour the pants he was showing me were and I replied to Barry: "Grey!" Barry then replied: "Miles, they're European weighted wool grey!" That reshaped my being. Up to that point I was just looking on the surface. I wasn't really connecting with both my eyes and brain. After that I started to really view what was before me and that this could be applied to everything.
I would use this with all mediums of people in the arts: musicians, painters, photographers, writers, graphic designers, printers, etc. That everything was a textural composition brought on by this technique of viewership.
I've been blessed that this method of mentoring has affected hundreds if not thousands around the world. This is just one of the many legacies left behind by the life of Barry Rey Flynn.
Locally, over those thirty-five years, I introduced many of my friends, and too the artists that I was either managing or involved with - that world of five-star material, design, and composition. With Barry's iconic setting the standard eye on fashion and artistic prowess he took great care of each one of them, and like me he made them feel like they came across the checkered line and that they were first-place winners.
Most of my clothes over that period came from either Barry, or his late father, Elwood. I still wear much of what I bought in 1989, etc. Those great fabrics and the timeless fashion hold up. The life of Barry Rey Flynn will also hold up. He may be physically gone but Barry will live on forever.
Barry was an exceptional athlete. I enjoyed tennis and so did he. Though he played at another level. Like with being a husband, a father, an entrepreneur, a fashion legend - his physical life had already been on the high court.
The last time I saw Barry; I gave him a big hug and looked him in his eyes and told him his parents would just love his new store. That they'd be so proud of him like I was of his existence. We spoke of our mutual friend, Duncan MacPherson. That Duncan had been departed now thirty-five years. Barry told me what jeans he always sold him. Even after thirty-five years he still remembered. That was Barry!
I also witnessed a spirituality heightened change in Barry with the birth of his magnificent son, Kael. Like his majestic wife, Suzanne, he adored them.
Barry never lost his narrative of high-speed drive for fashion through the course of his physical life. He lived it. It was his very breath. When most human lives are retiring Barry Rey Flynn was building and creating his dream Ultimo Euromoda store. Barry Rey Flynn was a peaceful warrior built with cast-iron character.
As we bid adieu to Barry Rey Flynn's earthly form, let us not dwell on the void left in his wake, but rather celebrate the legacy of love and inspiration Barry Rey Flynn has bequeathed us. For though he may have departed from our sight, his spirit remains a timeless beacon, guiding loved ones through the labyrinth of life's journey.
Soul to soul and sole to sole with fabric draped we all walk united as one until dust to dust.
In Loving Memory of Barry Rey Flynn (1957 — 2024)
Pictured is Sean Francis in Ultimo Euromoda clothing -- as I -- wearing a Buffalo by David Bitton shirt and Buffalo by David Bitton moto black jean with Kenneth Cole black boots.
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